A Story For Another Time
by SamaratinToSin
Summary: A series of one-shots about Grace and Skipper's past. I just update when I have writer's block, so don't get use to regular updates.
1. The Grace Story

**I thought of this idea when Asmith137 made a comment about Grace's parents and that got me wondering... How much does Grace know about her parents? Well, I wrote this to clarify some things.**

The city was alive, the honking horns and screaming sirens never ceased to add to the alure that is New York City. But the Central Park Zoo was uncomparingly quiet, no late night wanderers, or adventures. Just silence.

A small shadow raced across the path between the penguin and otter habitats. The figured stops in the shadows and looks around. Then, jumps into the habitat the runs next to Marlene's.

The light flipped on, and Private had to shake Grace awake.

"What the- Private!" Grace quickly changed her mind about using adult language.

"Grace. I had a bad dream." the small peguin quickly explained.

"Alright?" she blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to the light.

"Can I stay here?"

Grace sighed, "Won't Skipper freak out when he wakes up in-" she looked at the clock on the wall, "6 hours? How long were you sleeping?"

"Yeah, but I'd rather him be mad at me for leaving then mad at me for waking him up."

"What about Kowalski? Why didn't you go to him?" Grace was adjusting to the light, and knew she couldn't turn Private away. No matter how tired and mad she was.

"I don't know. He'd want to run tests or something."

Grace sighed and stood up, "Alright, What was your dream about?"

"My parents tried to kill you."

"Why would they do that?"

"Because you tried to eat me."

"Private. I'm a vegitarian. And you are my friend. Why would I eat you?"

"You were a zombie."

"How did I die then?"

"You killed yourself."

Grace laid back down on the edge of her bed. "I'm going to sleep Private. You are welcome to stay here, if-"

Private dove under the blanket next to Grace, "Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You won't even know I'm here!"

Grace was almost back asleep when Private spoke up again. "Grace?"

"Yes. Private?"

"Did you ever know your parents?"

"I don't remember them if I did."

"Does that bother you?"

Grace thought for a moment before rolling over to look at Private. "No." she shook her head.

"Why not?"

"Because, I've been trained not to let little things bother me."

"Like Skipper trains us not to mess up?"

"Perfection and inconsideration are two totally different subjects." Grace sighed and closed her eyes, fighting for sleep.

"Do you know where your parents are?"

"Private. Why the sudden intrest in my past?"

"Skipper said that Hawk raised you. and that you never knew them. At all."

"Alright. I'll tell you what I know. If you will be quiet and let me get some sleep."

"Yay."

"My mothers name was Jorinde. My father was the alpha of a pack and fell in love with a dog on a farm. 2 months later I came along. a few weeks passed and they gave me to Hawk. The end. good night."

"Didn't you ever go look for them?"

"No, Private. I didn't-."

"Wh-"

"Some questions are better left unasked." Grace snapped.

Private sighed, and didn't say anything. Grace felt like he was sleeping, so she allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

"Do you know where your parents are Grace?"

"Yes, Private. That's why I'm sleeping in a zoo."

"Hawk said they owned an orphanage."

"Oh my gosh. Private. Will you stop asking questions that I don't know the answer to?"

"It was a yes or no question."

"No, I don't know. If I did, I wouldn't go find them."

Private laid back down. "I'm sorry Grace."

"Mmmm." Grace rolled back over turning her back to Private. She waited for sleep. It never came.

"Damn it." she muttered, realizing that her instincts were stepping in again. She stood and moved towards the door, waiting for Private to say something.

The small penguin sat up and watched Grace walk out slowly, she paused at the door and sighed, before bounding outside.

The night was the warmest she had felt in a while. Grace sat down and waited for Private.

"You know more than you let on don't you?" Private asked.

"Yes." was all Grace could bring herself to say.

"There was an accident." She finished.

_Aatu pricked his ears. "Jorinde, wake up."_

_The smaller cream colored dog moved slightly. The wolf gently touched her with his nose. "Jorinde, up."_

_Jorinde lifted her head. "What is it? Is he here?"_

_"I don't know. Grab Kvela and go towards the exit." Aatu whispered._

_"No, Aatu wait!" Jorinde pushed herself off the dirt, causing a small light brown puppy to tumble to the ground. She growled slightly._

_"Aatu, don't you hide your eyes from me." Jorinde trtted to catch up with him. "What's gotten into you?"_

_Aatu looked at his mate and blinked his bright blue eyes. "Jorinde, I can't explain it."_

_"Try." Jorinde stepped in front of him and planted her feet._

_"It's not safe for Kvela here anymore." he stated plainly._

_"Then we'll leave. Go live with your Beta. He can protect us." Jorinde said hopefully._

_"Hawk cannot keep us safe. He's getting old."_

_"So are we." Jorinde nuzzled against her mate._

_"No. He can't take care of us to. We have to stay here. Send Kvela, change her name, sign her rights over."_

_"Aatu..I'M NOT SENDING MY DAUGHTER AWAY!" Jorinde started crying instantly._

_"Jorinde. She'll be safer with Hawk, and ACIS." Aatu tried to calm her down._

_"NO! SHE'S OUR DAUGHTER! NOT HAWK'S!" Jorinde tackled Aatu._

_"Jorinde calm down. You'll hurt yourself." _

_"NO! KVELAULV IS MY DAUGHTER! OURS!"_

_Aatu gently shoved Jorinde off of him and to the ground. "It's for the best."_

_Jorinde laid on the ground sobbing uncontrollibly as Aatu picked the brown puppy up off the floor and walked towards the door._

_Hawk met Jorinde and Aatu on the beach,_

_"I promise you that she will be safe." Hawk said._

_When Hawk took Kvela, he changed her name. And molded her into the perfect agent. She was smart, fast, strong, the perfect daughter. She never let anyone in, and that was part of her downfall. The select few she allowed to get close, knew that she just wanted someone to say they were proud of her, not that she could do better._

Private looked at Grace, "but-"

"No more questions." Grace demanded, laying down.

"Ok." he sighed, and laid down too.

Grace stole a glance at Private, he was already asleep. Sighing, she followed his example.

**Pronunciations(my versions)**

**Jorinde: J-oar-in-D**

**Aatu: like tattoo but without the 't'**

**Kvela: Vel-uh (k is silent)**


	2. The Chandelier Story

**Asmith137 wanted to hear the 'chandelier' story. So, Here it is. P.S. if you want to hear a certain story then PM me the story or your question about Grace or Akela and I'll post it here with an answer.**

Grace pulled the rope tighter around the tree branch.

"I don't know about this Grace. It seems kind of..." Private looked between the rope and the water then to the main section of the obstacle course.

"Dangerous?" Grace smiled mischieviously.

"I was thinking more long the lines of suicide. but dangerous is fine too."

Skipper grabbed the rope. "Oh come on, Private, when I was your age-"

"You two destroyed a 600 dollar chandelier when you were his age." Mani hopped the fence to study Grace and Skipper's obstacle course. "What's the goal of this?"

"Swing over the water, land on the other side. Over- or under- the wall, grab the flag from the top of the tree. Then, run around the pond and back here." Skipper sounded proud of himself.

"Grace can't swim." Mani stated very calmly. "What are you going to do if she falls?"

The wolf and penguin shared a look, then both said "Eh. We'll wing it."

"Ok then. Don't break anything." Mani leaned against the wall and observed.

"Uh. Mr. Manfredi, Sir?" Private began. "What exactly happened to the chandelier?"

"Well, Private. It was a cold November morning...

_"Grace! Wake up!" Skipper jumped up on her bed._

_"Aww, damn. What is it now?" the wolf rolled over and mumbled._

_"The awards thinga-ma-jigger is today. So get your butt outta bed and start training!" _

_"I don't wanna go. It's not like I'm getting recognised or anything." Grace rolled off the bed and landed with a thud on the floor._

_Court raced in next. "Guys you have to come see this chandelier!" _

_Being typical preteen bad-asses, the gang had to go see. _

_The second floor balconey opened up to reveal the scene below. As usual, Deliah was calling the shots._

_So far, only about 20 of the 70 tables had been set up. Each table would have a white table cloth with blue, red and black center peices._

_"Wow." Shellie sighed. "It's so pretty."_

_"Don't be such a girl, Shellie." Grace put her front paws up on the railing. "It's making me want to puke."_

_"Stop being such a boy, Grace." Shellie hopped up on the rail._

_"Grace, Skipper." Sarge trotted over. " It's training time. I don't want either of you anywhere near the ceremony preperations, until tonight. Got it?"_

_"Yes, sir" Grace and Skipper both saluted._

_"Notice how he didn't tell us to be careful." Court looked at Shellie._

_The fox nodded, "That's because I stay out of trouble. Where are you going?"_

_Court was already winding his way through the crowd. "I wanna see what the big deal is."_

_Grace brought her front paws off the railing, "Court, it's not that big of a deal, all they do is recognize the agents and students who are excelling academically and athletically."_

_"Huh?" Court rasied an eyebrow._

_"Smart and strong get rewards." Shellie sighed, shaking her head. The fox jumped from the railing and onto Grace's back then the floor. "Not runaways, rebels, and roadkill."_

_"Hey!" Grace bounded after Shellie, "Why aren't you on that list?"_

_"Because, when it comes to brains, well, let's face it, you three got the short stick." Shellie turned to look at Grace, Skipper and Court._

_"When it comes to talent you-" Skipper started,_

_"You need to learn some new combacks." Court sighed._

_"Yeah Skipper," Grace walked over, "I'm blonde, what's your excuse?"_

_"Oh really? Let's see you do better."_

_"Don't piss me off, I'm running out of places to hide bodies," Grace passed the fox and walked down the hallway._

_"Damn, something about the way that girl thinks really gets a guy goin huh Skipper?" Court playfuly slapped the penguin on the back._

_"What?"_

"Uhh. Mani, cut to the chase. The important stuff." Skipper tossed another rope up to Grace, who was about halfway up the tree.

"The boy needs to know all the little details." Manfredi glared at him.

"Well could you at least not try to imitate Hawk's voice?" Grace caught the rope in her mouth "If's kiin of freaking mu ouf."

"What?" Private asked.

Grace dropped the rope. "It's kind of freaking me out." The rope landed on Skipper, "Damn. You'll kill the story if I don't take over from here." The wolf jumped out of the tree.

_Skipper, Court and Shellie stood at the edge of the stair case. _

_"I can't belive Hawk split us up for this." Skipper was pouting._

_"Well," Shellie looked at Court. "Can you blame him? You and Grace are a little, unruly."_

_"Aww, Shells," Court wrapped his paw around Shellie's shoulder. "Grace and Skipper are a team, they work really well together."_

_"Attention." Sarge announced. "It is my pleasure to bring the 103rd annual ACIS awards banquet to an opening, May I present, Commander Hawk Lamardi."_

_Grace walked up next to Skipper, "What'd I miss?"_

_The room erupted into claps and various other animal noises. ACIS had a very wide range of feild agents, from Taro ,a feild mouse, to Rod and Tyson, a pair of Asian elephants. All the agents were stationed sparatically throughout the country, most in zoos, but some in human homes._

_A dark figure appeared on the other side of the balconey_

_"Grace? Who the heck is that?" Court asked._

_"Grace, Court, you go left. Shellie we are this way." Skipper gave the order before taking off._

_Grace pulled herself up the railing and jumped to the other side. Court was right behind her._

_"I am Bashvault." The shadow said, "I am here to ruin the ACIS banquet."_

_"Over my dead body!" Grace slid to a stop and growled._

_"Oh goody, This should be fun." The figure had a cloak on, so Grace couldn't make out any details._

_Skipper and Shellie arrived just then, "We've got you surrounded. So just give up!"_

_"Oh dear, whatever shall I do? I'm surrounded by children!" the voice said in a sarcastic, mocking tone. It raised a hand, "A little hostage situation never hurt anyone!"_

_Grace was suddenly lifted off the ground. _

_"What the-"_

_"If you try anything funny, the mutt falls 3 stories and splat." the figure chuckled._

_Shellie yelped and looked to Skipper for guidence._

_"What do you want?" the penguin asked._

_"The location of the Ward of Souls."_

_"We aren't supposed to negotiate with terrorists." Shellie whispered._

_"Don't tell him Skipper!" Grace barked._

_"Shut up wolf!" _

_Grace dropped a few feet but remainde suspended in midair._

_"That's been transferred to the lowest floor, top security vault." Skipper looked at Grace._

_"Thanks." The figure dropped his hand and Grace fell onto the chandelier._

_"I am very eager to announce this year's number 1 graduating team,"Hawk continued his speech. The sound of shattering glass and wood drowned out the names._

_Hawk spotted Grace standing up and shaking the glass from her coat. He looked up to see Skipper, Court and Shellie all looking down from the upper deck_

_"GRACE!" Sarge howled. "I THOUGHT I MADE IT PEREFECTLY CLEAR THAT YOU WERE TO STAY AWAY FROM THE CELEBRATION!"_

_"But-but it wasn't me there was someone, they-" Grace looked up at her team, "I tripped."_

_"That's what I thought."_

"So noone knows what really happened?" Private gasped.

"Well, Mani and Johnson do, because they were on guard at the vault when Bashvault tried to get the Ward of Souls." Skipper added.

"What exactly is the Ward of Souls? It sounds scary." Private looked at Grace like a starstruck fangirl.

Manfredi sighed, "It's like a big old fashioned leather breifcase that has a bunch of glass bottles in it. The bottles contain the souls of the worst animals and humans to ever be on the ACIS Most Wanted List."

"Humans?" Private asked.

"That's a story for another time." Manfredi smiled, "A story for another time."


End file.
